Letting Their Hair Down
by Smarty Cat
Summary: [Oneshot] When you have as much hair as Duo does you need to set aside a special time to care for it. Fortunately Hilde's there to help. 2xH ALL comments and criticisms are welcome.


**Please note: As of November 2011, ALL NEW FICS unrelated to previously posted works will be posted under the name Inverse Calico. A link is on my author profile.**

**Disclaimer****:** Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment. I own nothing, but I thoroughly approve of the manner in which Duo and Hilde bonded. Guns and handcuffs whee!

**Completed:** November 6, 2005

_For Loyce_

**Letting Their Hair Down**

by  
**Smarty Cat**

It was a _very_ good thing that she had disabled the smoke alarm before opening the door, Hilde reflected with amusement as a wall of steam rolled out to greet her. She slipped into the warm, roiling mist and panted a bit as the temperature rose suddenly. Her reflection was an indistinct, dark blob in the fogged over mirror, and despite herself she was drawn to it. She swiped her hand over the general area where her face would be, revealing an upturned nose and large blue eyes under drooping gelled spikes for a few seconds, but the steam quickly swallowed her reflection again.

Stepping into the small bathroom she shared with Duo Maxwell was like stepping into a sauna. Or perhaps a lush tropical jungle. Yes, she quite liked that idea. A tropical jungle. And Hilde Schbeiker the sleek black panther stalking her prey beneath the waterfall. Her lips curled in a devious smile, revealing the faintest hint of teeth, as she glided forward toward the shower. Time to move in for the kill.

"Can't you wait until I'm out of the shower, woman?"

The peevish demand froze the petite female in mid-stealthy-step, her hand still upraised on its way to the plastic shower curtain. She let out the breath she had been holding and slumped against the sink with a pout. So much for sneaking up on him. A jungle huntress Hilde Schbeiker was obviously not. And her prey was just as wily and dangerous as she was anyway. Though, really, that was what made it fun.

Two piercing dark eyes framed by sodden, shampoo-sudded chestnut strands glared at her as the object of her thoughts stuck his head out from behind the curtain in order to properly chastise her for her intrusion. Duo had no doubt intended his expression to be withering but his crown of shampoo foam rendered it a mere sulky, and Hilde's eyebrows quirked as a grin turned her mouth impish. She closed the distance between them with a catlike lunge, planting her hand on his forehead and shoving his face back behind the curtain.

"If I waited for you to get out of the shower on your own there wouldn't be any hot water left for me, you hog!" she announced over his startled yelp. "Other people like hot showers too you know. Or should I say 'tepid' because that's all you ever leave me?"

He pulled the curtain back just enough to reveal his narrowed eyes. "There's nothing to stop you from joining me. You obviously don't respect my privacy."

"Your privacy?" She snorted, her hands braced on her hips. "Who has to bar the door when she changes for work? It's certainly not you."

"That's completely different, babe. You're hot when you wiggle that tight little rear of years into your coveralls. And you can ogle me any time you want. I won't mind." He waggled his eyebrows, and although she could not see his mouth, she was sure he was leering at her too.

"And to think I used to believe you were a perfect gentleman."

He barked with laughter. "You never!"

"I did!"

"Hilde, I seem to recall hitting you with a bag shortly after we met. And then you handcuffed me and held a gun to my head. Which was totally hot by the way. It's too bad the circumstances didn't allow me to fully appreciate the experience then. You can replicate it any time you want though. Oh, yes, after that I opened the hatch while you weren't wearing an oxygen helmet-granted I did warn you before I did it but I did do it-and you were very lucky to get that door down when you did. And then-"

"I meant after all that," she interrupted him and shook her head wryly. "When I agreed to live with you. Do you honestly think I would have agreed if I'd known what a pervert you are? Or what an ass you can be?"

"Well, then, live and learn, huh?"

"You're stalling, Duo. Out. Now."

"Fine, fine. Whatever. Let me rinse my hair," he grumbled in response. His voice was more muffled than it had been, leading her to suspect he was sulking and had stuck his head completely beneath the spray of water.

Hilde eyed the curtain balefully as she settled atop the closed toilet and cupped her chin in her hands. She was a reasonable human being, and Duo did have a ridiculous amount of hair. It would take a few minutes to rinse it completely. She would give him that but no more.

And then Duo started singing. It was a busy, vigorous, upbeat song with lyrics that were borderline lewd when they were legible. A song perfectly suited to be sung in the shower. A song to sing when the entire world was going his way. A song to sing when drunk. He had picked it up at a bar somewhere on L3 during his annual pilgrimage to the circus, and she hated it.

Hilde gritted her teeth as the steam continued to roil around and Duo segued into the seventh verse with particular gusto. She bounced to her feet and paced the length of the small bathroom, twice, three times, stopping in the middle of circuit number four to brush her teeth. Might as well get that out of the way while she was waiting after all. Duo had yet to provide any indication that he was ready to relinquish the shower, and she noted his voice fluctuated with each turn of the sink tap on or off.

The steam twined around her body like an overly affectionate, giant foggy cat before rising into a mist and dissipating through the still open doorway. Yes, it was definitely a good thing that she had had the presence of mind to disable the smoke alarm. Her clothes had grown damp and sticky and felt like they were plastered to her body. Beads of condensation rolled down her face.

Duo still was not getting out.

After he had said he would!

Granted not in so many words but if one read between the lines the implication had been there, and subtext was everything as far as Hilde was concerned.

Besides, Duo had been warned.

Thus Duo had brought any acts of retaliation upon himself.

How unfortunate for him.

Mere seconds after Hilde flushed the toilet, screeched curses filled the steamy air, accompanied by the sound of a body slamming into the shower wall with no small force. The sounds of the shower ceased as the water was cut off abruptly. There was a prolonged stretch of complete silence in which Hilde stood, head cocked to the side, waiting, her hand still curled around the toilet handle.

"Towel."

The curt demand was accompanied by a disembodied hand and arm held out imperiously from behind the curtain.

Hilde snorted. "I shouldn't give you one."

"Give me two then. Or face the consequences."

The young woman rolled her eyes, a grin playing on her mouth as she picked up the first of the neatly folded towels resting on the back of the toilet and allowed him to snatch it from her hands. After a moment he yanked the curtain back and glared at her, the towel wrapped snugly about his hips.

Hilde was quite proud of herself for not focusing on the way rivulets of water sluiced down the hard dimensions of his torso or how his skin glowed in the light or even how low that towel actually was on his hips. No, she was quite proud to keep her eyes on his. Mostly. After giving him a cursory once over, of course.

Duo smiled a slow, predatory smile.

Hilde's eyes narrowed. "Don't even think about it."

"Hilde, my dear, babe, you are unnecessarily suspicious." His tone was facetious, his eyes glittering. "Don't think about what?"

"You know what," she responded stubbornly.

"Do I?" he asked, shuffling forward in the shower and preparing to step out.

"Yes, you do. Freeze! Duo, I mean it!" Hilde flung up one hand warningly. "Don't move."

"I'm moving because I am freezing!" Duo protested. He stood in the shower and flung his hands out. "But while we're at it would you like my hands up too? On top of my head perhaps?"

Hilde growled and stomped forward. "Turn around."

"Oh, I like the policeman game."

"Ass."

He wiggled the aforementioned body part, towel slipping even lower. "You know you love it."

"Dangerous territory, Maxwell. Particularly since I feel like kicking it. You used up all the hot water _again_, didn't you?"

"Dammit, Hilde, don't be so rough!"

"Who's rough?" Hilde mocked as she shoved him face first against the wall and pulled his hair back. She twisted the sodden mass vigorously, sending cascades of water between them and into the shower.

"Babe, you're manhandling me, and I must admit that it's nowhere near as fun as having you handle my ma-Ow!" he cut off with a yelp. "You pinched my ass!"

"Told you. Dangerous territory." She lightly tugged his hair. "And someone has to keep you in line or else you'd have shaken that empty head of yours and gotten water all over the place, including me, and don't you try to deny it."

Duo turned his head enough to peer at her from the corner of his eye. "You were going to get wet anyway. That's what happens when you take a shower if you do it right." He yelped again. "Stop that! You're going to leave bruises!"

Hilde smiled at him sweetly as she released the skin of his upper right buttock and gave his hair one final solid twist before proceeding to wrap it in the second towel. "I have to get my kicks somehow. And why shouldn't I mark you? You're mine."

Duo snorted. "Would you like me to have 'Property of Hilde Schbeiker' tattooed across my ass? It'd hurt less than your pinches."

"I'll think about it," Hilde said with a slow smile and a throaty chuckle as she released him and stepped away. "And you know you love it."

"Hey, I'm being the good one here tonight," Duo protested as he climbed out of the shower, clutching the towering towel that concealed his wet hair to keep it from falling. "Shouldn't I get some sort of good citizenship award or a gold star or something?"

Her eyebrows arched as she mouthed 'Good citizen? You?' at him amusedly. Hilde shook her head. "It's against our arrangement."

"You're copping feels! Just one little kiss?" he wheedled, reaching for her.

Hilde deftly sidestepped his advance. "No."

"Hilde!"

"Consider the bruising to be retribution for using up all the hot water." She shooed him toward the door. "Now out. I'll see you in five minutes or less. Guaranteed," she added with a dark look at the shower. "And next time no coin toss to decide who goes first. You cheat."

"But you're so snuggly when you're wet and freezing," Duo purred, draping himself provocatively against the doorframe and sending her a deliberately smoldering look from beneath wet lashes.

Sadly, as attractive as his physique was he looked absolutely ridiculous attempting to be seductive with a striped terrycloth turban on his head, and a girl had to have _some_ standards.

"Out!"

x_x_x_x_x

It was actually closer to ten minutes when Hilde emerged from the bathroom in a pair of too large men's pajamas. She padded barefoot through the darkened hall toward the gentle rainbow glow emanating from the living room. Duo had turned the lights out, and the only light in the room (indeed the entire apartment) came from the strings of multicolored Christmas lights tacked to the wall around the radiator in the shape of bricks and a protruding mantel. Duo had become enamored with fireplaces during his time on Earth, and since the colony building codes had no use for them and thus did not allow the real thing, he had set out to create an approximation in their home. The success of his endeavor was debatable, but the atmosphere created by the lights was certainly soft and cozy.

Duo glanced up and smiled faintly as Hilde strode into the room and stood over him. He sat in the floor with his back to the radiator and his head resting on top of his arms on the couch. The towel around his hips had been replaced by his usual sleeping attire, a baggy tank top and shorts, and his hair fell loose and damp down his back to pool on the floor. He pushed away from the couch and turned around on the floor, and Hilde scooted in behind him, bouncing a few times on the couch cushions for good measure. Duo settled back on the floor between her legs and slumped against her, but she shoved him away and back upright with an outraged squawk. Hilde glared at him over her now soaked pants legs and pulled his hair back into a ponytail and smacked him upside the head with it.

"Thanks ever so much," Duo mumbled dryly, shaking his head and tugging at his newly waterlogged ear.

"That should be my line," Hilde replied, lifting the wet material of her loose pants at the knee and shaking it at him. "Look at this!"

"Cruel world, isn't it?" Duo snickered. "You'll dry. And until then your pants will cling so nicely to your lovely legs."

"Oh, just shut up."

There was no real heat behind her words as she began to run a large-tooth comb through the mass of Duo's hair, starting at the bottom and slowly working her way toward his scalp. They sat in mutual, comfortable silence, the only sounds the muttering of the radiator and the soft slide of the comb through Duo's wet hair. Duo's breathing began to even and deepen and Hilde sighed as she felt his weight begin to press more heavily against her legs. It was nice if warm, a bit too warm.

Hilde poked him in his shoulder before she began working on braiding his hair. "Do you have it hot enough in here?" she asked, nimble fingers quickly twisting his hair into its customary simple plait.

"I just want to get you out of your clothes," he mumbled, turning his head to nuzzle against her knee, his voice husky and drowsy.

Hilde laughed as she slipped a hair band off the end of the comb and onto his braid. "Wake up, Duo. You can't drop out on me yet, big boy. I haven't gotten what I want."

"Selfish woman." Duo yawned and then tilted his head back to meet her gaze. The glow from the Christmas lights rendered his skin green, yellow, and pink. It was strangely endearing. "Does what you want involve the removal of your pants?" he asked hopefully, ruining the illusion of adorable, drowsy male. "Since you're so hot and all."

Hilde leaned over him and stroked the end of his dry and newly formed braid over his cheek, smiling as his eyes dilated and his lips parted and a little sudden shiver racked his body when she exhaled against his mouth.

"Just for that I will swelter," she whispered before straightening and adding briskly, "Now get up. My turn." She tossed his braid over his shoulder to dangle against his chest and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

Duo stretched luxuriously, an act that mysteriously involved running his hands up her legs, and cracked his neck before she could so considerately do it for him. Hilde grimaced and slid off the couch onto the floor as he turned and hauled himself up to take her place. Her fingers twitched as they passed his bare legs, but discretion was the better part of valor and marking him then would not be worth it. Not when he was about to do magical things to her with his hands.

Hilde settled on the floor between his feet and turned sideways, tucking her legs beneath her. She crossed her arms over his right leg and rested her chin on top. She shivered as Duo stroked the nape of her neck and squeezed gently, sending delightful little bolts of sensation the length of her body. Her shudder ended on a purr as his hand moved up to her hairline and was joined there by his other hand. Duo cradled her head and chuckled with evil delight.

Hilde grumbled wordlessly in response. It was by some great unfairness, some cosmic twist of fate, that her own ultra short locks retained water while his ridiculous mass of hair dried out fairly quickly.

Duo stroked her head soothingly and ran his fingers through the short black strands, creating fleeting spikes and curlicues before smoothing them out and forming something new. Hilde lolled happily against his leg as Duo's hands worked her hair and massaged her scalp, and she gazed into the colored lights of the mock fireplace.

So peaceful. So soothing. If she squinted just right, the arrangement of lights did look like the warm glow from a real fire.

"You should let your hair grow out."

Duo's low rumble broke Hilde's reverie and she pressed her head against his caressing hand like a cat.

"Not a chance," she mumbled. "You've got enough for the both of us."

"You did look rather nice draped in my hair," he mused, his hands stilling. "And nothing else, of course."

Hilde rolled her eyes and groaned. "Never again. That was more cleaning up than I care to repeat. I can't believe you enjoyed it."

"Lather, rinse, repeat, lather, lather, baby," Duo teased. "You pull my hair whether it's braided or not so that didn't matter. It did get tangled and dirty though. And I blame that completely on you, babe."

She snorted and snuggled into her arms. "Just keep on doing what you're doing, Maxwell."

Duo obediently resumed the hypnotic movements of his bewitching fingers atop her head. As he kept on, Hilde's body relaxed farther and farther. It had been a long day at the scrap yard, but their day off stretched out before them. After the whole sleeping thing, of course. Fortunately, the couple's weekly hair care ritual (which mostly catered to Duo although she would never turn down a reciprocal scalp massage) had nearly reached its end. Her mouth opened in an involuntary jaw-cracking yawn as Duo's hands continued to work their magic, drifting down to knead the muscles in her shoulders.

"Want to just stay here tonight?"

"Easy for you to say," Hilde mumbled, uncoiling and rubbing her cheek against his leg. "You're on the couch. Not some bony thigh."

He chuckled and pulled her unresisting form into his arms. "You're little. You'll fit too. Still want me to turn the heat down?"

"No, stay where you are," she ordered sleepily. "You're comfortable. And the pants are staying on so don't ask."

Duo shook his head and sighed. He gathered her closer to him, swinging his legs onto the couch and draping her body over his, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She snuggled against him, their limbs tangled together and her head over his heart. There would be no sex that night. Despite their banter and innuendo, there was no real expectation of it and no need. Passion could wait until morning. The night was about caring, about being wrapped in warmth and acceptance and gilded by the light of a spectral fire.


End file.
